On Sharks & Humanity brought together recent works by ten contemporary Chinese artists, whose artworks explored humanity’s charged relationship with sharks.
The immensely varied works resonated in different ways: some challenged the prevailing prejudices surrounding this deeply feared ‘killer’, while others focused directly on the barbarism and devastation caused by the shark finning industry. Individually and collectively they drew attention to the many different aspects of this urgent environmental issue.
Shark preservation is still undoubtedly critical (over 25% of the world’s sharks and rays are under threat of extinction) and their decline poses a fundamental threat to the health of the world’s oceans. But, as the title suggests, On Sharks & Humanity also provoked larger questions about the human role in environmental degradation, and the struggle we face in re-evaluating how we relate to the natural world and our impact on the planet’s ecosystem.